Topic: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

I've been a Chumby owner and loyal fan since early 2008. I have three of them functioning. You may have seen my office Chumbys here on FB: https://www.facebook.com/chumby/photos/ … 365743950/

Well, I need help. That Chumby Classic in the above link (or more specifically, the one in the picture update I posted below it) has been unceremoniously cut off from the world! Our office WiFi, which used to be open, has been reconfigured to require both an ID and password. Since the basic wifi login screen only has space for one passkey, I cannot connect.

Specifically, this is what our IT Dept told me:
"Going forward all devices will be required to be able to connect to the new secured network. If you are unable to connect to the secured network on your device, we would recommend contacting the manufacturer to see if they have a system update that allows for WPA2 Enterprise wireless connections."

My technical know-how is no match the average Chumbian here. I've tried to contribute to these forums in other ways over the years (e.g., lists of internet radio stations).

From the reading I've done on here and on the wiki, it sounds like the login screen can be rewritten to accommodate both an ID and password (or that the ID and password can be entered directly into the code?). HOWEVER, I am FAR from competent in these areas. Much of what I've read comes across to me like gibberish. Am I correct that this can be resolved in some fashion?

If so, can anyone help me with this? I would need someone to walk me through this VERY PATIENTLY (if you ever saw the movie Philadelphia, this comes to mind: https://youtu.be/AR6eXWNJzoY ). Or, if I can arrange it, work with my IT people to redo the login.

The only thing I can think of to offer in return is a free Chumby Classic that I have stored away. I don't know if it still functions, but I can check. It's yours along with my hero worship if you can help me get my poor Chumby to communicate with the world (wide web) again!

-Carl

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Can you just hook up the device to Ethernet using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter?  That works well on my Infocast 8 and avoids wifi altogether.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

unwiredben wrote:

Can you just hook up the device to Ethernet using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter?  That works well on my Infocast 8 and avoids wifi altogether.

Thanks for the idea! My first choice would be to get the WiFi working if possible. The Ethernet data port in my office is on the other side of the room, so I would need to snake a fairly long cable around most of two walls of the office. Also, both USB ports on the Chumby are occupied (one by a drive with music on it, and the other by a Bluetooth hookup for a Jawbone Jambox.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

I'm pretty sure the version of the wifi infrastructure in the Classic might not be enough - we put newer versions in the later devices that probably would support it.  The trick is that you have to manually create the network configuration file to include the extra information.

Do they require anything besides the id and passphrase, like a cert?

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Duane wrote:

I'm pretty sure the version of the wifi infrastructure in the Classic might not be enough - we put newer versions in the later devices that probably would support it.  The trick is that you have to manually create the network configuration file to include the extra information.

Do they require anything besides the id and passphrase, like a cert?

I don't think so, but I'll check.
That "trick" is where I'm hopeless. Could I be talked through that by you all (along with getting it onto the Chumby)?

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Duane wrote:

I'm pretty sure the version of the wifi infrastructure in the Classic might not be enough - we put newer versions in the later devices that probably would support it.  The trick is that you have to manually create the network configuration file to include the extra information.

Do they require anything besides the id and passphrase, like a cert?

Here's what I was told:
"We issue a certificate(cert) that the device is required to accept upon initial connection. If the device doesn't have the ability to accept a certificate, it will be unable to connect to the wireless."
Does that change things? Also, if it means anything, the Chumby is a two-tone one, not an original all-black one.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

carldc wrote:

Here's what I was told:
"We issue a certificate(cert) that the device is required to accept upon initial connection. If the device doesn't have the ability to accept a certificate, it will be unable to connect to the wireless."
Does that change things? Also, if it means anything, the Chumby is a two-tone one, not an original all-black one.

Nope, that's not going to work on a Chumby.  Sorry about that.

If it's any consolation, even iPhones have had issues with this particular style of WPA2 Enterprise as recently as 2013.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Duane wrote:

Nope, that's not going to work on a Chumby.  Sorry about that.

Would it be possible to make a USB stick build of with an updated wpa_supplicant to get it working?

Sorry, I clicked "report" again.  I don't like PunBB's layout...  I blame it for my mistake. tongue  All of the other forums I frequent use vBulletin or SMF and on the right, the word that starts with "Rep" end with "ly" instead of "ort".

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:

Sorry, I clicked "report" again.  I don't like PunBB's layout...  I blame it for my mistake. tongue  All of the other forums I frequent use vBulletin or SMF and on the right, the word that starts with "Rep" end with "ly" instead of "ort".

I was wondering about that, for a moment... looking at the report msg. hehe.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:

Would it be possible to make a USB stick build of with an updated wpa_supplicant to get it working?

It might be possible - anyone brave enough to give it a try?

One issue is that you'd have to set up the paths properly for the system to use that one rather than the built-in one, since you can't modify the firmware directly in the CC like you can with the later devices.

My guess, though, is that it would be difficult to get a modern wpa_supplicant working on such an old version of Linux.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

CC looks to use "wireless-tools" iwpriv and custom-written scripts, so if wpa_supplicant can be compiled for the really old 2.6.16 kernel, and the rt73 driver supports all of the functionality required, it might not be too difficult.

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

12 (edited by demarks51 2015-06-03 07:43:26)

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

TO piggy-back on this topic:
Wondering about the difference between wifi connectiblity comparisons between CC and C1/I3.5.
Reason being, it seems that the range of the CC is not as good as the C1/I3.5. I can stretch the newer model further than the CC. I could get no signal from my router to my *newest* black CC downstairs on the edge of wifi but my infocast shorty worked just fine. Nearer the router the CC works great.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Well, all CCs are not the same.

If you were to open up a bunch of CCs, you'd see some minor differences.  In later manufacturing runs, there's an additional antenna on the network adapter, just like in the C1/I3.5.  Unfortunately, there's no real good way to tell from the outside which is which.  In general, though, the 3.7 (and very rare earlier ones) will not have the antenna, while some fraction of the 3.8 devices will.  I'm not sure if it's possible to add the antenna to the older ones, because I think the connector isn't there, and at the very least would require opening up the CC, which is tricky.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:

CC looks to use "wireless-tools" iwpriv and custom-written scripts, so if wpa_supplicant can be compiled for the really old 2.6.16 kernel, and the rt73 driver supports all of the functionality required, it might not be too difficult.

Now, that sentence looks like a foreign language to me, but you're saying this is possible?

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Duane wrote:
Materdaddy wrote:

Would it be possible to make a USB stick build of with an updated wpa_supplicant to get it working?

It might be possible - anyone brave enough to give it a try?

One issue is that you'd have to set up the paths properly for the system to use that one rather than the built-in one, since you can't modify the firmware directly in the CC like you can with the later devices.

My guess, though, is that it would be difficult to get a modern wpa_supplicant working on such an old version of Linux.

So, this would need to be in the USB port permanently?

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

carldc wrote:

So, this would need to be in the USB port permanently?

Yes, unless you were to rebuild the entire firmware image with the new functionality.  In the C1 and later devices, you could alter the existing firmware on a per-file basis.

For the tech types: the firmware in the CC uses cramfs, while the firmware in later devices is simply ext3 mounted as readonly.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Duane wrote:
carldc wrote:

So, this would need to be in the USB port permanently?

Yes, unless you were to rebuild the entire firmware image with the new functionality.  In the C1 and later devices, you could alter the existing firmware on a per-file basis.

For the tech types: the firmware in the CC uses cramfs, while the firmware in later devices is simply ext3 mounted as readonly.

Both USB ports are occupied right now, but I'd gladly sacrifice one for this.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

usb hub, no need to sacrifice anything wink

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

diamaunt wrote:

usb hub, no need to sacrifice anything wink

THAT I understand. Good point!

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

A long time ago I played with un"craming" and re"craming" the chumby rootfs for making tweaks, but I'm not sure I still have the scripts.  It was also a lot of work figuring out the update process, etc. to "safely" get it on the CC itself, so I tend to leave a USB stick in my CC for my tweaks.  I also like the idea of "pull the USB stick, it's 100% stock".

I'm going to start trying to cross-compile wpa_supplicant and dependencies tonight.  carldc, I'll let you know if it proves fruitful in any way shape or form.

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:

A long time ago I played with un"craming" and re"craming" the chumby rootfs for making tweaks, but I'm not sure I still have the scripts.  It was also a lot of work figuring out the update process, etc. to "safely" get it on the CC itself, so I tend to leave a USB stick in my CC for my tweaks.  I also like the idea of "pull the USB stick, it's 100% stock".

I'm going to start trying to cross-compile wpa_supplicant and dependencies tonight.  carldc, I'll let you know if it proves fruitful in any way shape or form.

I appreciate your willingness to do that!

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

carldc wrote:

I appreciate your willingness to do that!

You're welcome.  So far I have something that seems to build using the published toolchain, I will try testing it tomorrow if I get a chance.

As unwiredben suggested, when we switched to WPA2 enterprise at work, I added a USB-Ethernet dongle to my I8 instead of pursuing other options.  This work might help me out too, it's just something I never attempted because there was a switch on the side of my office with my I8, so the wired solution with that hardware was a no-brainer.

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:
carldc wrote:

I appreciate your willingness to do that!

You're welcome.  So far I have something that seems to build using the published toolchain, I will try testing it tomorrow if I get a chance.

As unwiredben suggested, when we switched to WPA2 enterprise at work, I added a USB-Ethernet dongle to my I8 instead of pursuing other options.  This work might help me out too, it's just something I never attempted because there was a switch on the side of my office with my I8, so the wired solution with that hardware was a no-brainer.

I might be able to do the Ethernet thing, but the port is on the other side of my office, and I'm not sure any of the two spare data ports are active anyway (or if our IT ill activate one if I ask). I'm keeping that option in my back pocket.
My preference is to be able to access the WiFi again somehow. I'm rooting for you!

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

I've got bad news.  No luck.

I couldn't get it working on the WPA2 network at my work.  I think there's some data required for connecting to newer networks that isn't being passed up with the really old RT73 driver on the chumby classic.

Where I got stuck was an error stating "skip - no WPA/RSN proto match".  After digging into that, it seems that there might be some data not being passed up to wpa_supplicant by the driver.  I looked at the RT73 driver code that's posted on files.chumby.com and it seems there may be some fiends in a couple of structures not being populated in the scan event, but I'm not sure if simply adding the rsn_ie data will fix it, or if other entire areas of code will need work as well.

Unfortunately it's something that will take more time than I have to give this task, so you may be forced to go the wired-across-the-room route.  I wish I had better news for you on this!

If anybody wants to cross-compile wpa_supplicant for their CC to play around, put the toolchain in your path and try this:

#!/bin/bash

set -x

function die()
{
    if [ -n "$1" ]; then
        echo $*
    fi

    exit 1
}

TOOLCHAIN_PATH=$(dirname $(dirname $(which arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc)))
PREFIX=/mnt/usb

[ -e libnl-1.1.4.tar.gz ] || wget http://www.infradead.org/~tgr/libnl/files/libnl-1.1.4.tar.gz || die "Failed to download libnl"
tar xzpvf libnl-1.1.4.tar.gz || die "Failed to extract libnl"
pushd libnl-1.1.4 || die "Failed to cd into libnl directory"
./configure --host=arm-linux-gnueabi --prefix=${PREFIX} CC=arm-linux-gcc || die "Failed to configure libnl"
make || die "Failed to build libnl"
make install || die "Failed to install libnl"
mv include/linux/genetlink.h include/linux/genetlink.h-OLD || die "Failed to move old genetlink.h out of the way so wpa_supplicant finds the toolchain version in it's compile"
popd


[ -e openssl-1.0.2a.tar.gz ] || wget https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.2a.tar.gz || die "Failed to download openssl"
tar xzpvf openssl-1.0.2a.tar.gz || die "Failed to extract openssl"
pushd openssl-1.0.2a || die "Failed to cd into openssl directory"
export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabi-
./Configure shared linux-generic32 --prefix=${PREFIX} || die "Failed to configure openssl"
make || die "Failed to build openssl"
make install install_sw || die "Failed to install openssl"
popd


[ -e wpa_supplicant-2.4.tar.gz ] || wget http://w1.fi/releases/wpa_supplicant-2.4.tar.gz || die "Failed to download wpa_supplicant"
tar xzpvf wpa_supplicant-2.4.tar.gz || die "Failed to extract wpa_supplicant"
pushd wpa_supplicant-2.4/wpa_supplicant || die "Failed to cd into wpa_supplicant directory"
echo "CFLAGS += -I${PREFIX}/include -I${TOOLCHAIN_PATH}/usr/include -O2 -I../../libnl-1.1.4/include -D_GNU_SOURCE
LIBS += -L${TOOLCHAIN_PATH}/usr/lib -L../../libnl-1.1.4/lib -L${PREFIX}/lib -L../../openssl-1.0.2a
LIBS_p += -L${TOOLCHAIN_PATH}/usr/lib -L../../libnl-1.1.4/lib -L${PREFIX}/lib -L../../openssl-1.0.2a
CC=arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc" > .config || die "Failed to start .config file with our build changes for wpa_supplicant"
cat defconfig >> .config || die "Failed to append the defconfig to our build changes for the .config for wpa_supplicant"
make || die "Failed to build wpa_supplicant"
make install DESTDIR=${PREFIX} || die "Failed to install wpa_supplicant"
popd
Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: Chumbians -- I need your help with a WiFi login.

Materdaddy wrote:

I've got bad news.  No luck.

I couldn't get it working on the WPA2 network at my work.  I think there's some data required for connecting to newer networks that isn't being passed up with the really old RT73 driver on the chumby classic.

So is this the end of the road for wifi on my office Chumby or are there any other avenues to explore?